Influence: What shapes the minds that make the news

Al Filreis talks to the Inky

Al Filreis is the Kelly Professor of English at the
University of Pennsylvania, faculty director of the Kelly Writers
House, and director of Penn's Center for Programs in Contemporary
Writing.

Quotation to live by: "Things explain each
other, not themselves." - George Oppen

Books on my nightstand right now:Oranges, by John
McPhee; The Lay of the Land, by Richard Ford; IFLIFE, by
Bob Perelman; Darfur Diaries: Stories of Survival (http://go.philly.com/darfurdiaries),
by Jen Marlowe, Aisha Bain, Adam Shapiro and Paul Rusesabagina.

If I had the power to order all of the Philadelphia region to
read one book, it would be:The Periodic Table, by Primo
Levi.

And here's why: The book is in part a plea for
nonspecialized, ethical science - for a form of empirical
understanding that depends on the poetic sensibility, a sensibility
that has the power to prevent genocide.